Midland Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 881 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Midland Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 881 shares during the quarter. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Southern by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Southern by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the period. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $88.26 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.28. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Southern Company Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.